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Liquor Board: Should bars be able to serve alcohol 24-hours?

The Washington State Liquor Control Board is holding a public hearing to discuss extending alcohol serving times on March 12, 2012 in the Bertha Knight Landes Room at City Hall located at 600 4th Avenue from 10:30am to 12:30pm.

Seattle Mayor McGinn and Seattle City Council are looking to create an opportunity for local governments to petition the state liquor board in hopes of extending legal alcohol serving times in their city — including the City of Seattle. The Liquor Board wants to know what the public thinks about this.

Currently, bars are prohibited from serving alcohol from 2am – 6am.

The city of Seattle wants to extend alcohol serving times for approved local bars for two reasons: public safety and tax revenue.

It is estimated that the city will earn an additional $3 million dollars per year if the alcohol serving times are extended.

Since all bars stop serving alcohol at 2am, bar patrons, including intoxicated ones, all hit the streets at the same time and some believe this the reason for many late night violent acts. Also, taxi cabs are harder to find during these hours in some places which leads to people standing around instead of being able to go home.

Whether you support what the city wants to do or not, the Washington State Liquor Control wants to hear from you at their public hearing on Monday morning.

They’ll also be hosting other public hearings in Spokane, Vancouver, and the Tri-Cities on dates to be determined.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate..